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Node.js Crash Course Tutorial #1 - Introduction & Setup — Transcript

by Net Ninja · 2,887 words · 390 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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0:00hey gang and welcome to your very first
0:01step in becoming a node ninja a rather
0:10than gang now I do already have a node
0:12tutorial on this channel but I wanted to
0:15update it because now that's about four
0:17or five years old so I wanted to do a
0:20quick refresh a nice new node tutorial
0:22because in the future I'm going to
0:24create some more advanced node tutorials
0:27as well and then I can direct people to
0:29this more recent playlist to learn the
0:32basics first of all okay there so first
0:34things first what is node j/s well as
0:38developers when we're creating websites
0:40we normally talk about code on either
0:42the front end inside browser or back end
0:45code or server-side code which is the
0:47code which runs on a server now
0:49javascript is normally confined to run
0:52in a browser in the past on the front
0:54end and we'd use it to do things like
0:56add interactivity to a web page like
0:58click events or things like that now we
1:00never used to be able to run JavaScript
1:03directly on a computer or server but
1:06node allows us to run JavaScript on the
1:09server side as well or even directly on
1:11computers now before you explain any
1:14more about that first of all I want to
1:16talk a little bit about how computers
1:18actually understand code so computers
1:21really only understand machine code but
1:24that is really complex to write and a
1:27read
1:27it's like binary like this so something
1:30called assembly language is built on top
1:33of that which is a bit easier to read
1:35and write which is then assembled down
1:38into machine code so the computer can
1:40still understand it but this right here
1:43this assembler language is still overly
1:45complex to read and write so built on
1:47top of that we have programming
1:49languages like C++ which are abstracted
1:51a lot away from assembly code and
1:54they're much easier to read and write so
1:58ultimately this C++ code is then
2:01compiled down to machine code so
2:05therefore we can write C++ code on a
2:07computer and a computer will understand
2:09it because it's being compiled down to
2:11machine code now
2:13javascript is a language which is
2:15abstracted even more away from machine
2:17code than C++ to make programming easier
2:20still but computers cannot directly
2:23understand JavaScript or compile it down
2:25to machine code so we cannot directly
2:27run JavaScript on a computer right but
2:31it can run inside a browser so how does
2:33that work well running inside browsers
2:36is an engine called the v8 engine and
2:38the v8 engine is written in C++ by
2:42Google and it compiles JavaScript into
2:44machine code at runtime so bypassing
2:47JavaScript code through this v8 engine
2:50in the browser the computer can then
2:52understand JavaScript within the context
2:55of that browser however it cannot run
2:58JavaScript outside the browser because
3:00there is no v8 engine compiling it down
3:02outside the browser it's confined to the
3:05browser only but that is where node
3:07comes into play so node.js is a program
3:11also written in C++ and that wraps the
3:15v8 engine so this v8 engine that's in
3:18browsers also lives inside node as well
3:21now because node is written in C++ it
3:26can run directly on our computer so by
3:29installing and running node on our
3:31computer it can take our JavaScript it
3:34can run it through the v8 compiler that
3:36it has inside it and it compiles our
3:38JavaScript into machine code so that in
3:41essence we can now run JavaScript
3:43directly on a computer or server and not
3:46just in a browser but node is more than
3:51just a wrapper for the v8 engine
3:53it also hooks into the v8 engines and
3:55more functionality to JavaScript so that
3:58when we are using nodes a compile and
4:00run JavaScript we can use all of this
4:02extra functionality in our JavaScript
4:04code and that kind of functionality
4:05includes things like the ability to read
4:08and write files on a computer or to
4:11connect to a database the ability to act
4:13as a server for content these are all
4:16the kind of things you'd expect a
4:17server-side language to do and now we
4:19can do them with JavaScript running
4:22through node now remember javascript was
4:24originally made for the brow
4:26to add interactivity and not to run
4:29directly on computers or service so
4:32normally it can't do all of this stuff
4:34but with the help of node it can but on
4:36the flip side since we're now using node
4:38to run JavaScript outside the browser we
4:41lose access to JavaScript features such
4:43as the document object model we can't
4:45interact with HTML elements anymore but
4:48we don't really need to do that when
4:50we're running JavaScript on a server and
4:51acting as a back-end to our website
4:54right so just going back to computers
4:57and machine code node now plugs into the
5:00top of this stack with the v8 engine so
5:04that now we can write JavaScript code on
5:06a computer which is then compiled down
5:08into machine code forests so that
5:11computers can now understand JavaScript
5:14and that is freaking awesome
5:19so then now we've got a bird's-eye view
5:21of what node actually does for us what
5:24would we actually use it for well the
5:27role of node in a website is basically
5:29to run JavaScript on the back end or
5:31server side and then we're going to be
5:32handling requests coming in from a
5:35browser so for example a user might
5:37visit your website in a browser now that
5:39browser is going to make a request to
5:41the server the node server is going to
5:43run some kind of JavaScript you'll react
5:45to the request and it might communicate
5:48maybe with a database or files on the
5:50server then it's going to formulate some
5:52kind of response and send it right back
5:55to the browser now that response could
5:58be an HTML page with dynamic data
6:00embedded inside it or maybe some CSS and
6:03image files etc so basically the note
6:06server is running JavaScript on the back
6:09end to do all of this so using node in a
6:12website is pretty much an alternative
6:14now to or the server-side languages like
6:16Python Ruby PHP etc but the rad benefits
6:20of using node over the others first of
6:23all if you're already familiar with
6:25JavaScript then there's absolutely no
6:27need to learn a new server-side language
6:29because node is going to be taking
6:31javascript and compiling it down so we
6:33can use the same language on the front
6:35end and the back end and to that end we
6:38can also share cold for front end and
6:41the back end since they both use
6:43JavaScript it's very popular and it's
6:45got a massive massive community around
6:48it so there's always help if you need it
6:50and there's also a huge amount of
6:52third-party packages and tools to help
6:55with web development and we're going to
6:57see some of those as we go through this
6:59course
7:03I rather than so in this course we're
7:05gonna go from the absolute beginning and
7:07to begin with I'm going to show you how
7:09to install node and use it to run
7:11JavaScript on your computer or in a
7:13server then we're going to see how to
7:15use know to read and write files on your
7:17computer we'll also see how to create a
7:20server and then make a website using
7:22node by listing for and responding to
7:24HTTP requests then we're going to dive
7:26right into third party packages in
7:29particular Express to create an express
7:32up and that is a very very easy way and
7:35a very popular way to build node
7:37websites then we're going to introduce
7:39databases in particular
7:41MongoDB which is a no sequel database
7:44and we're going to use that to store
7:46data and then create dynamic web pages
7:48and to that end as well we will be using
7:51template engines ejs in particular to
7:54inject dynamic content into our HTML
7:56templates which we can then send back to
7:59the browser finally we're going to put
8:01everything together that we learn to
8:03make a node powered website project so
8:07this is the little project we're going
8:08to create it's a very simple blog
8:11website where we can list all of the
8:13current blogs we can click on one to see
8:15more information we can also go to add a
8:18new blog and I'll just call this one
8:20Mario Party and add in some ninja tips
8:24as you do like so and then click on
8:28submit and we can see that new blog at
8:30the top over here we can also delete
8:32blogs by clicking on this little Delete
8:34icon right here and we have an about
8:37page as well which every block needs so
8:40this is the project we're going to be
8:43creating using node Express and also
8:46MongoDB as the database as well
8:48throughout this series now before we
8:52start I want to make one thing crystal
8:54clear this is not a beginner Java Script
8:57course and you should already know the
8:59foundations of the JavaScript language
9:01things like functions how asynchronous
9:04code works all that kind of just and
9:06ideal it you should also know a little
9:09bit about HTML and CSS too since at the
9:11end of the day we are making a website
9:13and there will be HTML and CSS involve
9:17now I've got courses on both of these
9:19things on this channel and on udemy I've
9:22got a modern JavaScript course and also
9:25an HTML and the CSS crash course as well
9:27so the links to both of these are going
9:29to be a highlight down below
9:35a rather than gang so the first step in
9:38all this is to install node on your
9:41computer now it might be that you
9:43already have node installed on your
9:45computer but you're just unaware of it
9:47so in order to check that open up a
9:50terminal I'm going to use command prompt
9:53by typing CMD and pressing enter and
9:55then in here type node space hyphen V
9:58and if you have node installed it should
10:01give you back a version number you can
10:03see mine is version 14 point 1.0 now if
10:08you don't get a version number it means
10:09you don't have node installed and you're
10:12gonna have to go ahead and install it
10:14likewise you might get a different
10:16number a smaller number which means you
10:18have an older version of node in which
10:21case you might want to update as well so
10:23in order to do that to install it or
10:26update it go to node.js org
10:28this link will be down below and then
10:30click on this button right here to
10:32install the latest version that's going
10:34to download an installer run that when
10:36it's done and the install wizard will
10:39install node on your computer for you it
10:41only takes a couple of minutes
10:43now once you've done that I would
10:45suggest closing your terminal opening it
10:47up again and typing in node - V just to
10:51make sure you get a version number and
10:53it's installed correctly so now you have
10:56node installed on your computer we can
10:58use it to run JavaScript directly on our
11:01computer and we could even do that
11:03directly inside this terminal so to do
11:06that I'm gonna type node and then enter
11:08and that starts the node process and
11:10right now we see a blinking cursor and
11:12that's asking us to basically type some
11:15JavaScript to run through node so now I
11:17could write something like 5 plus 5
11:19press ENTER and we get back 10 that's
11:22valid JavaScript right and we could
11:24write any JavaScript code that we want
11:25to write here so I could say var name is
11:28equal to Mario and then type name and we
11:32get back and Mario so any kind of valid
11:35JavaScript we can write inside this
11:37terminal but ideally we don't want to
11:40write code in a terminal all the time
11:42it's going to be really tough to create
11:43a website this way so instead we're
11:46going to need a good text editor to work
11:48in now I'm going to be
11:50using vs code of Visual Studio code
11:52which is a great free text editor and
11:55you can get it from code dot visual
11:57studio comm and click on this download
11:59button right here for Mac or for Windows
12:01but you don't have to use this you can
12:03use your own favorite like sublime or
12:05atom if you prefer but at the minute I
12:07would recommend this one it's a really
12:09nice text editor so anyway once you have
12:12your text editor installed open it up
12:15and maybe start a new project folder in
12:18that text editor I'm actually going to
12:20do that from the command line over here
12:22so let me exit this process by clicking
12:25ctrl C twice and that exits out of the
12:29node process then I'm going to navigate
12:32to a folder where I want to create my
12:34new project so I'm going to say CD which
12:37stands for change directory to dive into
12:39a folder called documents that I have on
12:43my computer then CD again to go into
12:45another folder I created called totes
12:46and then right here I'm going to create
12:48a new directory by saying mkdir that
12:52stands for make directory and I'm going
12:54to call this node - crash - course and
12:58then I'm going to see the into that so
13:01see the node - crash - course and then
13:05I'm going to open up this particular
13:07directory inside of the S code now to
13:10open that up from the command line in vs
13:13code I can say code dot and that means
13:17open up visual studio code in the
13:19current directory alright so press ENTER
13:22and that should hopefully open up visual
13:25studio code in this project directory we
13:28can see that right here in node crash
13:29course ok
13:33so then now we have our text editor open
13:36let's just give this a whirl what I'm
13:39gonna do is create a new file over here
13:41and I'm gonna call this test dot J s and
13:45inside you I'm just gonna write some
13:47basic JavaScript code so I'm going to
13:49say Const and then we'll say name is
13:51equal to Mario right and all I'm gonna
13:55do is console dot log name so I've got a
14:00JavaScript file now on my computer how
14:02do I run this JavaScript file well I can
14:05do that through the terminal so I'm
14:07going to go to terminal at the top and
14:09then go to new terminal and make sure
14:11you're in the correct directory where
14:14the file exists where you made that file
14:16and then type node and then the file
14:20name so in our case test now you don't
14:23need to add the JavaScript extension
14:25because it knows we're going to run a
14:27JavaScript file so I can just say node
14:30test which is the name of the file press
14:32ENTER and it runs that file for us on
14:35our computer and we actually see down
14:37here in the terminal which is acting as
14:39the console for us this name Mario okay
14:42so it run the file it logged this to the
14:45terminal or the console down here so let
14:48me try this again I'm going to change
14:50this to something else like not your paw
14:53but Yoshi and save that now I have
14:56to run this file again for it to work so
14:58down here I can just press up to do the
15:01latest command I wrote and press ENTER
15:03again node test and now we can see Yoshi
15:06right here so we could write any
15:09JavaScript inside this file then run it
15:11and if we're logging things to the
15:13console we're gonna see them down here
15:14inside the terminal and that's how easy
15:17it is to run a javascript file on our
15:20computer using node this is not being
15:23run inside a browser anywhere now it's
15:25being run directly on our computer now
15:29finally going i've created course files
15:32for every single lesson in this tutorial
15:34series and they're all found on this
15:37give repo right here node crash course
15:39now don't worry if you don't know how to
15:42use git or github or anything like that
15:44you don't really need to know how to to
15:46see the code or down
15:47load the code I'll leave this link down
15:49below but essentially each lesson in
15:52this series is going to have its own
15:54branch in this github repo so we can see
15:57the branches right here and if you want
15:59to see the code for lesson 4 for example
16:02you could go to the lesson for branch
16:03and you're gonna see all of the code
16:05right here and all of the different
16:07files now if you want to download this
16:10you can go to close or download if
16:12you're familiar with github and get you
16:14can clone the repo to your local machine
16:17or if you want to download a zip file
16:19with all of this code in you can do by
16:22clicking download zip or right here
16:30[Music]

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